Getting Our Kids to Help Around the House

Getting Our Kids to Help Around the House

From What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson

April 29, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 466

About this episode

The episode discusses strategies for getting kids to help around the house without resistance, exploring cultural differences and the impact of gender roles.

How do you get kids to help out—ever, at all—without default resistance that makes it feel like it's not worth the trouble of your having asked? Kids *should* contribute to their families' lives without their parents resorting to nagging or threats. Kids in other cultures, we are told, participate willingly and fully. Why does this seem so hard for so many of us? We discuss: Whether "chores" framing is part of the problem How gender roles shape the expectations of who's helping Whether they have to like participating for it to matter Why we seem to find this harder than our parents did Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Susan Newman for Psychology Today: Raising Baby Hunter-Gatherer Style Jennifer Katzenstein for Johns Hopkins Medicine Wellness and Prevention blog: How to Get Your Kids to Do Chores Reem Raouda for CNBC Make It: I’ve studied over 200 kids—parents who have an easy time getting their children to listen never use these 5 ‘toxic’ phrases Amy Sutherland for the NYT: What Shamu Taught Me About a Healthy Marriage Frank Bruni for the NYT: Tolstoy and Miss Daisy Deborah Gilboa: GET THE BEHAVIOR YOU WANT...WITHOUT BEING THE PARENT YOU HATE…

People in this episode

Hosts: Amy Wilson, Margaret Ables

Guest: Michaeleen Doucleff

Topics covered

  • chores
  • parenting
  • family contribution
  • gender roles
  • cultural differences
  • child behavior

Keywords

  • chores
  • parenting tips
  • family help
  • child participation
  • gender expectations
  • cultural parenting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Psychology Today, Johns Hopkins Medicine, CNBC Make It, NYT

More episodes of What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms podcast page.